Print ISSN 2319-2003 | Online ISSN 2279-0780 IJBCP International Journal of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology www.ijbcp.com International Journal of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology | November-December 2015 | Vol 4 | Issue 6 Page 1198 doi: 10.18203/2319-2003.ijbcp20151358 Research Article An audit of iron therapy in patients with iron deiciency anemia in a tertiary care hospital Anusha Natarajan 1 *, Isabella Topno 2 INTRODUCTION Iron deiciency anemia (IDA) is a major nutritional problem globally, which especially is true in the developing countries like India. India is one of the countries with a very high prevalence of anemia in the world. Almost 58% of pregnant women in India are anemic, and it is estimated that anemia is the underlying cause for 20-40% of maternal deaths in India. India contributes to about 80% of the maternal deaths due to anemia in South Asia. 1 IDA is associated with worsened quality of life, impaired physical, and cognitive performance. 2,3 Hence, effective treatment of IDA is extremely necessary. Even though the treatment is simple and effective, there is a high prevalence of IDA. The reason for this is partly due to non-compliance of the patients and partly due to ineffective or incomplete treatment by the physicians. Hence, the present study was undertaken with the following objective. Objective To study the treatment pattern in patients with IDA in a tertiary care hospital. METHODS • Retrospective observational study • Sample size: 100 patient records (inpatients and outpatients) • Place: Medical Records Department of a tertiary care hospital in Pondicherry ABSTRACT Background: Iron deiciency anemia (IDA) is a major nutritional problem globally, which is especially true in the developing countries like India. Even though the treatment is simple and effective, there is a high prevalence of IDA. The reason for this is partly due to non-compliance of the patients and partly due to ineffective or incomplete treatment by the physicians. Hence, the present study was done with the objective to study the treatment pattern in patients with IDA. Methods: This retrospective observational study was conducted in the Medical Records Department, Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Puducherry for a period of 1-year with a sample size of 100 patients. Patients of all ages and either sex diagnosed to have mild to severe IDA were included in the study. The following data like: demographic details, hemoglobin, drugs used to treat the anemia, duration of treatment were obtained. The data will be presented as descriptive statistics. Results: Out of the 100 patients scrutinized 57% had severe IDA, 39% moderate IDA, and 4% had mild IDA. Of the 100 patients, 71% were females and 29% were males. For 14% of the patients, no treatment was given and for 19% of the patients treatment was given but the duration of treatment was not mentioned. Conclusions: The results of the present study showed that majority of the patients with IDA did not receive the recommended WHO treatment. The present study shows that even though the treatment of a common nutritional disorder-IDA is simple and effective, the prevalence of the same is high, and the majority of the patients are being undertreated. Patients should also be educated about the implications of the disorder and the importance of its treatment. Keywords: Anemia, Iron therapy, Audit, Treatment 1 Department of Pharmacology, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Puducherry, India, 2 Department of Pharmacology, Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences, Puducherry, India Received: 14 October 2015 Accepted: 14 November 2015 *Correspondence to: Dr. Anusha Natarajan, Email: anushanatarajan29@ gmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open- access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non- Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non- commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.